Yeti Purity Jacket | First Look

Newly arrived lightweight insulation from German down specialist Yeti.

Published: Wednesday 10th December 2014

Just in for review is the very light and eyebrow-singeingly expensive Purity Jacket from German insulation specialist Yeti. It's a sub-250g jacket filled with 90g of 800 fill power Polish 800 fill power Crystal goose down and made from an ultra-lightweight Japanese fabric that Yeti calls 'Next To Nothing'.

Basics

£380 / 245g (medium)

Filled with 90 or 95/5 800 fill power Crystal down

Next to Nothing fabric (26g/m2)

Stitch through baffle construction

Two hand warmer pockets, one doubles as stuff sac

Adjustable hem

Full-length front zip with micro storm-flap

First Impressions

Yeti is a German brand that's been involved in making top notch down kit for the last 30 years. In this case that means 800 fill power 'Crystal' goose down from the Polish mountains and a super lightweight fabric the company calls Next To Nothing, which is made by Toray in Japan.

We've got a little blasé about lightweight down jackets, so despite the Purity weighing in at just 245g for a medium, it didn't seem 'that' light. The Berghaus Ramche Hyper, for example, tips the scales at a mere 181g. But subjectively, the Purity feels significantly, as in much, warmer than the Berghaus jacket despite weighing just 64g more. It seems, on the face of it, a decent sort of pay off for a minimal weight increase.

It also feels appreciably warmer, we think, than the Arcteryx Cerium LT which is a very similar weight - the Yeti has a slightly more forgiving cut too. The two brands we suspect would be in the same ballpark are PHD and Western Mountaineering from the States.

The construction is simple, weight-saving stitch through with some funky slanted baffles around mid-torso level for aesthetic entertainment. You also also get a pair of hand warmer pockets and an adjustable hem using tiny cord-grips to save weight and bulk.

Initial Verdict

Subjectively this thing seems to pack a better warmth to weight ratio than anything else we've used, almost as if there's some weird alchemy going on. It packs down small as well and Yeti claims that the Next To Nothing fabric is not only one of the lightest down proof materials out there and produced in a single Japanese factory, it's also apparently deceptively tough thanks to the ultra-fine fibres and dense weave.

The other side of the coin is that it's eye-wateringly expensive and rationally you could spend less on a slightly heavier and bulkier jacket, for example a Rab Continuum and suffer the back-breaking burden of an additional 100g in pack weight. You pays your money...

More information

Full details of Yeti's range of down clothing and sleeping bags at www.yetiworld.com.